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Pawn Captures Knighthood: the Tale of Sir Thopas As a Commentary on the Rise of Peasants to Knighthood and the Deterioration of Chivalry

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Pawn Captures Knighthood: the Tale of Sir Thopas As a Commentary on the Rise of Peasants to Knighthood and the Deterioration of Chivalry JUSTIN SINGER Pawn Captures Knighthood: The Tale of Sir Thopas as a Commentary on the Rise of Peasants to Knighthood and the Deterioration of Chivalry ABSTRACT The Tale of Sir Thopas, one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, contains many details which are inversions of the traditional portrayal of knights in chansons de geste. The reason for these inversions must be determined by interpreting the various details of the portrayal of the protagonist, Sir Thopas, within the historical context of England during the late fourteenth century. During this time period in England, the Black Death had precipitated dramatic changes in social hierarchy. The drastic decline in population led many members of the established nobility to fall into economic distress as a result of labour shortages, and the rise in the value of labour meant that individuals of common birth were no longer as ubiquitous and expendable as they had previously been. Newly wealthy non-nobles were thereby able to rise to the rank of knighthood. This paper shall examine the symbolic details in the Tale of Sir Thopas in relation to their historical context of Medieval England in the years following the plague, and thereby demonstrate that the Tale of Sir Thopas is a commentary on the rise of common born knights and the resulting decline of chivalric values. In The Tale of Sir Thopas, a Canterbury Tale, one of Chaucer’s Pilgrims recites an asinine poem which mocks the traditional Chansons de Geste in both metre and content. The Tale of Sir Thopas is about an effeminate Flemish knight who must slay a three-headed giant in order to marry an elf queen. Sir Thopas is in many qualities antithetical to legendary knightly heroes such as Roland and Guillaume of Orange. Whereas these knights represent the military ideal of chivalry, driven by valour and a sense of Christian duty, Sir Thopas is effete and delicate. He travels unarmoured, and initially flees when confronted with the giant Sir Oliphaunt, a cowardly and unseemly act for a man of knightly status. Chaucer’s intention, however, extends beyond a simple desire to satirize the literary traditions of chivalric epic. Rather, through the use of symbolic details, such as those which are displayed in Sir Thopas’ behaviour, clothing, and armament, Chaucer demonstrates Sir Thopas’ non-noble, mercantile heritage, as well as the knight’s resulting failure to embody traditional chivalric ideals. Chaucer’s portrayal of a man of common birth having risen to the rank of knighthood is closely connected to the increase in social mobility which occurred in England in the wake of the Black Death. Chaucer’s use of farce in the Tale of Sir Thopas is therefore an expression of the subversion of the chivalric values that occurred in fourteenth-century England as a result of the ascension of wealthy peasants to the rank of knighthood. Scholars have conceived several hypotheses regarding the significance of The Tale of Sir Thopas within the context of the cultural and socioeconomic environment of Europe in the late fourteenth century. One literary scholar, Lillian Winstanley, draws a parallel between Sir Thopas and 2 CHIVALRY AND HISTORY IN THE MIDDLE AGES (UNDERGRADUATE PAPER) the Flemish knight Philip van Artevelde, who, like Sir Thopas, came from bourgeois origins, and was involved in battle against a French army, which, Winstanley says, is represented by the three-headed giant Sir Oliphaunt.1 It is critical to note, however, that the task of placing the the Tale of Sir Thopas into its historical context is one outside of Winstanley’s field of specialty. Winstanley would therefore not necessarily be in an ideal position to decipher certain elements of the tale, such as details of Sir Thopas’ armament and heraldry. Nearly every detail in the poem is vital to the tale’s symbolic implications, and in order for these implications to be understood, it is vital to determine the correct interpretations of these components within the context of their own time period. The suggestion, moreover, that The Tale of Sir Thopas was intended to satirize a specific individual does not seem particularly probable. One of the most crucial elements of chivalric romance during the Middle Ages was the illustration of an archetype or ideal. Specific knightly characters, such as the Spanish knight El Cid, were represented directly rather than symbolically. If Chaucer intended to represent Philip van Artevelde within The Tale of Sir Thopas, he would likely have done so overtly. The Tale of Sir Thopas may also have lost a measure of its socio-political significance if the character of Sir Thopas was representative of an individual rather than a concept. In the analysis of The Tale of Sir Thopas, it is not sufficient to analyze its literary construction alone, or to attempt to associate it with particular individuals and events, as both approaches fail to account for the poem’s true allegorical significance. In order to determine Chaucer’s true intentions, it is necessary to examine the details of symbolism and literary device within the tale and connect them to their implications within their historical context. The description given of Sir Thopas at the outset of the poem is an inversion of the typical portrayal of knights within the context of chivalric epic. Whereas other knights in the classic Chansons de Geste, such as Roland or El Cid, are praised for such qualities as bravery, loyal vassalage, or piety, the primary quality which Chaucer attributes to Sir Thopas is the knight’s physical beauty. Chaucer thus describes Sir Thopas: Sire Thopas wax a doughty swain; Whit was his face as pandemain, His lippes as rede as rose. His rode is lik scarlet in grain, And I yow telle in good certain He hadde a semely nose.2 The mere fact that Chaucer portrays Sir Thopas largely in terms of appearance rather than character adds a feminine quality to the knight, as women in medieval literature are portrayed by way of elaboration on their 1 Lillian Winstanley, ed. Introduction to The Prioress’s Tale and the Tale of Sir Thopas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922). 2 Geoffrey Chaucer, “Sir Thopas,” lines 724-729, in The Canterbury Tales, ed. Jill Mann (London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2005), 501. PAWN CAPTURES KNIGHTHOOD: THE TALE OF SIR THOPAS AS A COMMENTARY ON THE RISE OF PEASANTS TO KNIGHTHOOD AND THE DETERIORATION OF CHIVALRY 3 physical appearance more often than men are so described.3 Furthermore, the delicacy of Sir Thopas’ features, as well as the pallor of his skin, are traits which would be more readily associated with a woman or a child rather than with an adult male.4 These qualities present Sir Thopas to be a somewhat less than admirable example of knighthood, for the perspectives of a particular work on chivalry, the Lorde de Chevalerie, indicate vanity and concern for fashion to be feminine traits unsuitable for a knight.5 Knights so preoccupied might easily become distracted from their responsibilities as vassals as well as their role as defenders of the Church. They might also become self-absorbed as a result of their own pride. The ascension, however, of low-born yet wealthy men to the rank of knighthood in England during Chaucer’s lifetime created a new form of knight by whom status and sumptuousness were valued above chivalric virtue. The institution of knighthood in the England that Chaucer knew was not as exclusive as it had been in ages past. Knights did not necessarily have to be of noble blood. They were not even required to undergo any formal training or trials, for all that was necessary for knighthood was the requisite financial means. In fourteenth-century England, knighthood could be purchased, and in some cases, a wealthy merchant or tradesman was more likely than an impoverished nobleman to achieve the rank of knight. Among those knighted, in fact, were several mayors of London.6 One mayor who attained knighthood was William Walworth, who was knighted for his role in the suppression of a peasants’ revolt through the wounding of the rebel leader, Wat Tyler.7 Walworth was, however, not a man of noble blood, nor was he trained as a knight at arms. In addition to being mayor of London, he had also been a financier and a fishmonger.8 The fact that Walworth was rewarded with knighthood for his aid in pacifying a peasants’ revolt demonstrated that the rank of knighthood was becoming more a position of privilege than a vocation accompanied by a multitude of responsibilities. Knights who ascended from origins similar to those of William Walworth could hardly be expected to fulfill the traditional role expected of the warrior aristocracy. They would not have possessed the courtly upbringing and military training of knights in previous centuries. Furthermore, they did not earn their rank by distinguishing themselves on the battlefield, and therefore, their knighthood was nothing more than recognition of wealth that they had acquired through commerce or craftsmanship. As such, many of these knights of the gentry likely had little interest in honouring the legacy of knighthood. They were probably more 3 Joanne A. Charbonneau, “Sir Thopas,” in Sources and Analogues of the Canterbury Tales Volume II, ed. Robert M. Correale and Mary Hamel (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2005), 662. 4 Charbonneau, “Sir Thopas,” 663. 5 Jill Man, Chaucer and the Medieval Estates Satire. (Cambridge: Cambridge at the University Press, 1973), 118. 6 G.G. Coulton, Chaucer and His England, 7th ed. (London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1946), 192-193. 7 Derek Brewer, Chaucer and His World (London: Eyre Methuen Ltd., 1978), 154, 155, 159.
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